TIME RUNNING OUT ON ‘CLIFF’ DEAL – Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane write on A1 of the Washington Post: “The contours of a deal to avert the year-end fiscal cliff are becoming increasingly clear. But progress has been slow, and time is running out for leaders to seal an agreement and sell it to restless lawmakers who so far have been given little information. With hope still alive for a resolution by Christmas, President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) met Sunday at the White House, their first face-to-face meeting in nearly a month and their first one-on-one session since July 2011, when they last tried to forge a far-reaching compromise to tame the national debt. Neither side would provide details, but White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage and Boehner spokesman Michael Steel released identical statements saying ‘the lines of communication remain open.’ …

Story Continued Below

--“[W]ith written proposals from both sides now on the table, senior aides say the elements of a deal are coming into focus:

1. “Fresh tax revenue, generated in part by raising rates on the wealthy, as Obama wants, and in part by limiting their deductions, as Republicans prefer. The top rate could be held below 39.6 percent, or the definition of the wealthy could be shifted to include those making more than $375,000 or $500,000, rather than $250,000 as Obama has proposed. Obama wants $1.6 trillion over the next decade, but many Democrats privately say they would settle for $1.2 trillion. Boehner has offered $800 billion …

2. Savings from health and retirement programs, a concession from Democrats necessary to sell tax hikes to GOP lawmakers. Obama has proposed $350 billion in health savings over the next decade. Boehner has suggested $600 billion from health programs, and an additional $200 billion from using a stingier measure of inflation, reducing cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients.

3. “Additional savings sufficient to postpone roughly $100 billion in across-the-board agency cuts set to hit in 2013, known as the sequester, and to match a debt-limit increase.” http://wapo.st/RkLlP9

FISCAL CLIFF COUNTDOWN: 21 DAYS

POLITICO BATTLEGROUND POLL: ADVANTAGE OBAMA – “An American appetite for tax hikes gives President Barack Obama leverage in fiscal cliff negotiations,” writes James Hohmann. “A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll finds that 60 percent of respondents support raising taxes on households that earn more than $250,000 a year and 64 percent want to raise taxes on large corporations. Even 39 percent of Republicans support raising taxes on households making more than $250,000. Independents favor such a move by 21 percentage points, 59 to 38 percent. Only 38 percent buy the GOP argument that raising taxes on households earning over $250,000 per year will have a negative impact on the economy. Fifty-eight percent do not.” http://politi.co/TQtLk2

-- The poll also finds that 62 percent of Americans back a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.http://politi.co/TQz2rP

DCCC TARGETS 35 GOPers IN TAX CAMPAIGN - The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched an automated phone call campaign demanding that 35 vulnerable House Republicans sign a discharge petition that would force a vote on Senate-passed middle class tax cuts. House Republicans have objected, saying they want to extend tax cuts for all Americans, including the wealthy.

WSJ LEAD EDITORIAL:‘The Republican Tax Panic’: “If any Republicans thought that President Obama would respond with magnanimity in victory, they now know better. He is determined to rout them on taxes, give as a little as possible on spending, and blame them for any economic damage in the bargain. The question for the GOP is how to minimize the harm to the economy, as well as to their chances of a political and policy comeback in 2014 and beyond. So it's a shame that Republicans are playing into Mr. Obama's hands, negotiating in public among themselves, prematurely giving up on the tax issue and undermining House Speaker John Boehner in the process. Mr. Obama isn't going to blink on the budget if he thinks Republicans are going to blink first, and so far the emerging GOP position seems to be to surrender on taxes first and hope Mr. Obama will have mercy on them later on entitlements. …

-- “Republicans need not play along, and they and the country will suffer if they do. Above all, they need to start negotiating as a team with Mr. Obama and stop making premature concessions for the TV cameras that only make the White House less likely to meet them half way.” http://on.wsj.com/T0FlYo

THE GOP’s IMMIGRATION JAM -- POLITICO’s Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in their weekly “Behind the Curtain” column: “Think Republicans feel in a jam about raising taxes? Wait until President Barack Obama springs comprehensive immigration reform on them early next year. With Obama making plain his plans to push immigration soon, leading establishment Republicans — fresh off Mitt Romney getting his clocked cleaned by 44 percentage points among Hispanics last month — insist they are now very much open to a comprehensive package, including eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants. But while top Republicans think they need to make a big move on the issue and actually want a bipartisan deal with Obama, the rank and file remain skeptical. And it is this tension that is defining the behind-the-scenes machinations as both parties plan for 2013. …

-- “Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, told us that Republicans should strike first and offer ‘a conservative immigration proposal that is comprehensive’ before Obama’s State of the Union address. ‘My personal belief is that President Obama views this issue from a cynical political perspective not an economic one,’ the former governor said by email. ‘After all, when he promised four years ago to do something and he had vast majorities in the Congress, he did nothing.’ …

-- “GOP sources tell us a small but influential group of conservative leaders have begun talks to provide cover to House lawmakers fearful about the political implications of immigration. Policy advisers to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and others are working together on a series of smaller immigration bills that the House and Senate could pass over the next two years. Karl Rove, the former top strategist for President George W. Bush, said, ‘Many Republicans who were once reluctant to support comprehensive reform are now open to it as long as it doesn’t include amnesty — the forgiveness of an offense without penalty.’” http://politi.co/TQrmpq

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 10, 2012, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include but are not limited to @MissHedgeHodge and @MaloneKevinJ.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate is in at 2 p.m. and will hold a cloture vote at 5:30 p.m. on a bill to temporarily extend the transaction account guarantee program. The House is back on Tuesday.

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY

Corker: Raising tax rates on rich ‘best route’ – “Some Republicans are softening to the idea of raising tax rates on top earners in exchange for discussing entitlement reform during so-called fiscal cliff talks, according to Senator Bob Corker,” Bloomberg reports. “‘There’s a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing that we don’t have a lot of cards,’ the Tennessee Republican said today on the ‘Fox News Sunday’ program. ‘I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take’ to achieve cuts in entitlement spending, he said.” http://bloom.bg/YTjIjb

Simpson: Taxes on rich will go up -- Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” [former GOP Sen. Alan] Simpson, a co-chairman of the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission, said he and Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton White House chief of staff and the panel’s other co-chairman, believe taxes will go up for the rich,” The Hill reports. ‘I think Erskine and I both agree that if anybody out there who is, quote, rich doesn’t think their taxes go up, the drinks are on me, I’ll cover it,’ Simpson said.” http://bit.ly/SR75jD

Gov’s mansion or Senate? Booker will decide in two weeks -- “Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Sunday he's considering running against Republican Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey next year and is also mulling a run for the Senate,” POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein writes. ‘I am absolutely considering running for governor, as well as giving other options some consideration. I'm going to be focused on that for the next week to 10 days or so,’ Booker said on CBS's ‘Face The Nation.’” http://politi.co/VuneJ7

SENATORS WARY OF ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ -- Manu Raju writes for the hometown paper: “Influential senators, fearful of Majority Leader Harry Reid’s threat to jam filibuster changes through the Senate early next year, have begun back-channel talks to avoid what critics dub the ‘nuclear option.’ During floor votes, on the Senate subway and over breakfast meetings, senators from both parties are quietly trading ideas to avoid the precedent-setting move to alter filibuster rules with a simple majority — rather than two-thirds — vote. They’re alarmed that the move could fundamentally change the Senate: Future majorities could cite such a precedent to change whatever rules they want in an institution designed to protect the rights of the minority. Frustrated by gridlock and buoyed by a supportive incoming freshman class, Reid appears close to securing enough support in his caucus to force through a series of revised rules on a party-line vote. The Democratic leader’s proposal would prohibit filibusters in a handful of cases. And senators couldn’t filibuster simply by threatening one; they’d have to actually carry out a talkathon session.

-- “The proposal would be the first order of business in the next Congressif Reid follows through. So top Senate Republicans — including John McCain of Arizona, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — are trying to head off the showdown. They’re reaching out to Democrats who have expressed concerns about changing the rules by 51 votes, including Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Carl Levin of Michigan. And Republicans are reaching out to a key Reid ally, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat and chairman of the Rules Committee, to see whether a deal can be cut before the new Congress convenes in January.” http://politi.co/VXTy9p

New York Times, A1, “113th Congress, This Time It’s Out With The New,” By Jeremy W. Peters. “As a fund-raiser for a local college scholarship program, Rick Nolan understands how much it costs to send children in northern Minnesota to technical school. Having run a sawmill, he can speak like a logger. ‘I know what you can get for 1,000 board feet of lumber,’ he said recently. ‘I know what you have to pay for stumpage.’ But there is another piece of Mr. Nolan’s biography that until recently few voters wanted to hear about, and that few politicians would dare own up to: the three terms he spent in Congress 30 years ago….

--“He beat his opponent, who was elected in the Tea Party upheaval of 2010, by nine points. And when he takes his seat as one of 84 new members of the House of Representatives (49 of them Democrats, 35 Republicans) in January, Mr. Nolan, Democrat of Minnesota, will be one of the many who were elected despite their histories in politics and government. The 2010 election, with its throw-the-bums-out, antigovernment furor, swept into office a host of people who had no government experience. There was an exterminator, a dentist, a youth minister and a pizza man. But this year, voters sent many of those people packing. In their place will be a class of career bureaucrats and policy wonks who, after two years of intransigence and dysfunction on Capitol Hill, make up what could be characterized as the anti-antigovernment wave.” http://nyti.ms/TQCqTx

DeMINT’S RESIGNATION JUMP STARTS 2014 IN S.C. – WaPo’s David Fahrenthold reports from Columbia, S.C.: “Let the death match begin. In South Carolina — a virtual one-party state that produces some of the country’s meanest, weirdest political battles — the resignation of Sen. Jim DeMint (R) meant that the 2014 campaign season started Thursday, in 2012. And it’s already getting ugly. DeMint’s departure created a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The governor’s office and both U.S. Senate seats — all three of South Carolina’s brass rings — will be up for grabs in the next election. The first step in that long campaign will be for Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to appoint someone to fill DeMint’s seat. On Friday, this capital was already engrossed in an sub rosa campaign, swapping rumors, attacks, testimonials and misinformation. …A spokesman for DeMint said that the outgoing senator had not suggested any replacement to Haley when he called her to say he was leaving. That contradicted one of Columbia’s most persistent rumors, that DeMint had recommended Rep. Tim Scott (R). …

-- “Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham will also be seeking reelection, and is expected to face a primary challenge from the right. Tea party groups have turned on Graham for supporting President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees and other sins of political moderation. Graham has $4 million in the bank already, waiting for their best shot. Also, 2014 would bring a reelection campaign for Haley, a onetime tea party favorite who has rapidly become a symbol of the South Carolina GOP’s tendency to devour its own. A recent poll by Winthrop University here found just a 38 percent approval rating for her.” http://wapo.st/SKaU8Y

VETERAN DEFENSE HAWKS TAKE FLIGHT -- Darren Samuelsohn and Stephanie Gaskell write for POLITICO: “Titans of defense and foreign policy who shaped America’s military policies for the past three decades are on their way out of Congress — leaving a void at exactly the wrong time, Pentagon watchers fear. At least half a dozen heavyweights, such as Sens. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), either announced retirement or lost their seats this fall. Their successors will carry far less clout on Capitol Hill — and few took office vowing to carry the mantle of the military. That’s bad news for the Pentagon, which is facing the first serious threat to its funding in years — including more cuts of nearly $500 billion over the next 10 years if the country slides over the fiscal cliff at the beginning of next year.” http://politi.co/Vt91MB

BOUSTANY BEATS LANDRY IN FINAL RACE OF 2012 – Melinda DeSlatte writes for the AP in Baton Rouge: “Louisiana congressman Charles Boustany won a fifth term on Saturday by handily defeating his fellow Republican incumbent, Jeff Landry, in a runoff election. The two men were forced into the same district when Louisiana lost a congressional seat because of anemic population growth in the latest federal census. The state will have six U.S. House seats in the new term that begins in January. Boustany, a retired doctor from Lafayette, will represent the 3rd District covering southwest Louisiana and Acadiana. … With nearly all precincts reporting, Boustany was ahead of Landry by a 3-2 margin. … The district design favored Boustany, a traditional Republican candidate allied with House Speaker John Boehner. Landry, a freshman congressman, was the tea party favorite, but he was unable to build enough grassroots support to oust Boustany.” http://bit.ly/12gVJsa

RACE FOR JACKSON’S SEAT LACKS STAR POWER – Douglas Belkin and Ben Kesling report for the Wall Street Journal: “The contest to replace Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned from the U.S. House last month amid a federal investigation, has also become a scramble to fill a leadership void in Chicago's African-American community. Ahead of the Feb. 26 Democratic primary and the April 9 special election to fill the seat, at least a dozen potential candidates have indicated they might run, including current and former state legislators, and a former NFL star and restaurateur. Several contenders bring considerable experience to the field—such as Cook County Administrative Officer Robin Kelly and Illinois State Senator Toi Hutchinson—but none approaches the star power or clout of Mr. Jackson. The would-be successors also include former Rep. Mel Reynolds, who resigned from the same seat in 1995 after being convicted on multiple counts of sexual assault, and Illinois State Sen. Donne Trotter, who was arrested at O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday when he allegedly tried to board a flight with a handgun in his carry-on luggage. Mr. Trotter was charged with a felony Thursday and released after posting bail.” http://on.wsj.com/TY1TbB

FRIDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Nobody correctly answered Friday’s question. According to Jon Deuser, visitors to the late Rep. Jack Brooks's office always knew a meeting was effectively over when he pulled a key chain from his desk to give as a parting gift.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Strom Thurmond, the late South Carolina senator, holds the record for the longest filibuster: He spoke 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to block a civil rights bill. Who holds the record for the second longest filibuster, and how long was it? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

About The Author

Scott Wong covers transportation for POLITICO Pro, and authors The Huddle, POLITICO’s popular morning tipsheet on Congress. He was a congressional reporter with the publication from 2010 to 2012.

He reported from Tucson, Ariz., after the deadly shooting rampage that severely injured Rep. Gabby Giffords and helped break a story about Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s private plane that led to her admission she owed more than $300,000 in state property taxes.

He got his professional start in journalism covering local government for two small newspapers in his native San Francisco Bay Area. He later became a staff writer for The Arizona Republic, where he covered the Arizona statehouse and Phoenix City Hall.

After graduating from UCLA, he spent a year teaching English in a rural mountain village in Japan. He is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, and lives with his wife and daughter in Washington.